


Through Emerald Eyes

by stonebadge



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 18:48:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10542390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonebadge/pseuds/stonebadge
Summary: The Lightwoods have a nasty habit of picking up strays.





	

It was a clear summer’s night as she approached the cathedral she knew as the New York Institute, the silhouette of a sleeping child in her arms. She paused at the threshold, free hand glued to the doorhandle in hesitation. It had been years since she’d had contact with the shadow world, and longer still since she'd spoken to any of the inhabitants of this place, but these were the only people who could help her now. The hooded woman entered warily, the light from the interior illuminating her long brown hair and forcing her haggard hazel eyes to adjust to the sudden light. She breathed an audible sigh of relief as the door closed behind her, and the child in her arms shifted slightly as she adjusted the weight of him, his short black hair nuzzling her cheek as he burrowed deeper into her shoulder. She lowered her hood and smiled at the sword-wielding woman who greeted her near the entrance, some things never changed. “Hello Maryse” she said, amusement evident in her voice.

As luck would have it the Institute was particularly empty that Saturday night, as most everyone had gone out to deal with the recent surge in shapeshifter attacks that had been plaguing the city. Maryse was the only one awake as the stranger entered, waiting for the others to get back from their mission while reading up on the classification and identification of demonic venoms and ichors. She silently rose to her feet and drew her weapon as she heard the door open, knowing full well that none of the residents would be returning so soon after setting out. It took Maryse a moment to recognize the newcomer who greeted her, as she had not seen her since their days at the Shadowhunter Academy. The younger woman had been one or two years below Maryse, and had been more of a passing acquaintance than an actual friend. “Eve?” She asked hesitantly, unsure if it really was her classmate that stood before her. The years had not been kind to the younger woman. Her eyes betrayed the horrors she had seen and made her look years older than Maryse knew her to be. She seemed as if she were stretch thin and frayed at the edges, yet the fiercely protective manner with which she clung to her child was something Maryse was all too familiar with.

The boy in Eve’s arms was just barely six, too old and too heavy to be carried comfortably, so she set him down in a nearby chair while she spoke with Maryse in a hushed yet urgent voice. A disappearance from the shadow world of any length, let alone one as long as Eve’s, raised questions. So the younger woman had quite a bit of explaining to do before making the request that had brought her there at such a late hour. The boy had half-woken when set down by his mother, barely opening his sleep heavy lids to languidly survey his surroundings with emerald eyes. He closed them again shortly after, his natural curiosity and eagerness to explore tampered by his need for rest. He feigned sleep while attempting to listen in on the adults’ exchange, catching incoherent pieces of the conversation through the frantic whispers. His last few thoughts before surrendering to the dark embrace of sleep were spent wondering what exactly a Greater Demon was, and why his mother had brought them here to begin with. 

He awoke with the sunrise in a bed that was not his own, alone in a place he did not recognize, but safe and comfortable nonetheless. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he looked around the room, instinctive curiosity giving way to apprehension and fear as he realized he was all alone. He called for his mother, but was met with nothing but his own words echoing off the stone walls which surrounded him, the high voice of a frightened child unsure on what to do next. He went to the only window and stood on tippy toes in order to take a look outside, but found neither his mother nor any indication of where he was. Fear gave way to blind panic as the young shadowhunter slowly realized he had been left in this strange place all alone, and with that he went back to the bed and did the one thing that grown boys simply did not do. He began to cry. He wallowed in this catharsis for a minute or two before he heard the low creak of a door opening and jolted upright at the noise. He held his breath as the door slowly opened, hope momentarily filling his tear stained eyes as he wondered what had taken his mother so long to respond to his pleas.

—

Seven year old Alec Lightwood woke suddenly and with little fuss, as was usually the case with the dark haired boy. He got up and made his bed with the efficiency of a seasoned veteran, and was halfway done with getting dressed for the day when he heard some unusual sounds coming from the normally empty room next door to his. He finished dressing with a newfound sense of urgency, and slowly made his way to the neighboring room to investigate. He was relieved to find a boy in the room (his mind had immediately imagined demons or vampires materializing out of unused closets), but was surprised to learn that the source of the unfamiliar noise was the younger boy’s crying. Even Izzy didn’t even cry anymore (she had learned, at the tender age of six, that it brokered no sympathy from their parents). The stranger bolted upright as he entered, scrambling to wipe away tears and look as composed as a crying six year old could muster. Alec had nothing to say in a situation so unexpected, so he simply said the first thing that popped to mind: “Shadowhunters aren’t supposed to cry ya’know.” At least he was pretty sure they weren’t. He’d have to ask Hodge later. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell. Promise.” He shot the younger boy a quick yet genuine smile to highlight this point, but was disheartened to see that there were still tears in his eyes. Alec had the courtesy of feigning interest in the layout of the room (which was a mirror image of his own) in order to give the boy some time to compose himself. “My name is Alec.” He added, when he was reasonably certain the other boy wouldn’t burst into tears again. 

“I’m Shawn, and I wasn’t crying!” Exclaimed the young boy as he quickly wiped away the last of the tears from his bright green eyes and rubbed them raw for good measure. It was a very odd introduction, and one that Alec would use to tease Shawn mercilessly in the years to come. “Besides, I’m not a real shadowhunter yet.” The younger boy continued, sniffling just a bit. “I don’t even have any runes.” His mother had always been hesitant to talk about the shadow world, but he knew enough. He had learned of a few runes, mostly by peppering her with questions about the ones she wore, and knew that you got your first rune in a Special Ceremony. 

“Sure you are!.” Said Alec, as he walked over to the other boy’s bed and sat down with the careless abandon of a child who had just made a new friend. He was trying his best to comfort Shawn, and was rewarded with a weak smile for his efforts. Alec had never been one to sit by idly when those around him were sad or upset, even if he had just met them. “Why else would you be at the New York Institute? ’Snot like we let mundanes in.”

“WHAT?!” Shouted the other boy, his entire disposition shifting in an instant with the excitement which was innate to youth but tapered with age and conditioning. “IsthisreallytheNewYorkInstitute?” He asked, mostly to himself in one hurried breath. He looked around the room with a newfound fervor, taking in every detail of the walls and furniture as if he would be tested later. His mother had spoken very briefly of the Shadowhunter institutes; promised she would take him one day to learn all about being a shadowhunter and get him his first rune. He was content to accept the fact that this was indeed the New York Institute without any further prompting from Alec, and began peppering the older boy with a series of seemingly endless questions. The nature of these questions varied widely: starting with “Do you get to live here?” (Yes, his room was right next door) and “Do you REALLY get to learn about shadowhunter stuff?” (Of course, Hodge taught class every weekday and every other Saturday) and ending with “Is there a rune that lets you fly?” (That just earned a chuckle from the normally somber older boy).

When Shawn had finally finished ten minutes later his head was spinning with information and excitement, a giant smile plastered on his face as he fell back on the bed. For a moment he forgot all the worries which had so plagued him mere minutes before, content instead to revel in his daydreams. He imagined himself in class with Alec, learning all about runes and the other untold secrets which the shadow world undoubtably possessed. He envisioned the training that Alec had talked about, sword in one hand and a ninja stars (or maybe nunchucks, if he felt like it) in the other, sparring with the older boy like he saw on TV. Alec would best him the first few times, but eventually Shawn would get the upper hand and pretend like it was no big deal when he finally won. He imagined what the Special Ceremony would be like, all chanting hooded figures and magic dancing flames in every color, and wondered where exactly he would get his first rune and what extraordinarily thing it would allow him to do (he settled eventually for his upper arm and the ability to jump over buildings, unless Alec was wrong and there really was one that let him fly). He would meet a warlock who could talk to animals and ask him about the Secrets of the Universe, and watch him cast spells under the light of a full moon. He would have been more than happy to sit there in the quiet calm of morning and ponder all the Great Things Yet to Come, but Alec’s even-tempered voice next to him cut into his reverie and brought him back into the moment.

“If you want, I can show you around the Institute after breakfast” Alec offered, glad to see that the other boy’s mood had finally improved. He tried his best to keep the hope from his voice, maintaining the somber and level-headed tone he had just begun to cultivate as the Eldest Lightwood Son. Alec did not get many opportunities to interact with anyone his own age, Isabelle notwithstanding, and basked in the opportunity to make his first real friend. Up until now it had all be training and preparation and duty, already shouldering all his parents’ hopes and expectations at such a young age. There had been no time for anything which did not serve to glorify the Lightwood name and bring him one step closer to being one of the shadowhunter elite. His offer was met by a fervent nod in the affirmative by the young emerald eyed boy, and earned a brief but genuine smile from Alec which made his eyes glisten with warmth. “Okay, just get dressed and we can get to breakfast. Don’t want to be late, Sundays are chocolate chip pancake day!” 

How anyone could take this as bad news, Alec had no idea, but somehow Shawn had managed. The smile had instantly left the younger boy’s face as he looked around the room once more in search of something to distract him. He finally settled for pulling at a thread on the cuff of his pajamas, his attention causing it to further unravel and lengthen before he twisted it on itself to form a small knot of string. “My mom just left me here in this. All my clothes are back home.” He said without looking up, the sound of defeat evident in his voice as he was reminded once again of his abandonment. This was not the adventure to the institute he was promised, not a time to learn about shadowhunters and make new friends, it hadn’t even been planned. His mother had simply scooped him up in the middle of the night and left for the Institute, no packing or preparation. He didn’t have anything of his except the old pair of outer-space pajamas he had worn to bed the night before and a small stuffed bear named Norbert, which he couldn’t fall asleep without. Norbert was under the covers of the unmade bed at the moment, lost sometime in the middle of the night and forgotten when faced with the novelty of the admittedly short morning. At that moment, Shawn longed for nothing more than to simply clutch Norbert tight, but didn’t want the older boy to make fun of him for still having a teddy. He was practically a grown up after all, and grown ups most certainly did not have stuffed animals with blue bow ties and a matching vest. 

“Oh…” Said Alec, putting a hand on the other boy’s shoulder. He wasn’t quite sure why Shawn was upset, his mother left Izzy and him here all the time, and this was hardly any different. Besides, today was Sunday which meant chocolate chip pancakes and no lessons, how could anyone be upset today? “You can borrow some of my clothes.” He said diplomatically, as he hopped off the bed and began to head toward the shared bathroom which conjoined the two boys’ rooms, arriving at his closet in an instant. The normally quiet and reserved Alec kept up a near constant stream of chatter as he selected clothes he thought would fit, describing the training room and library at length and promising to show them to the younger boy after breakfast. His prattle served to sooth his nerves and gave him something to focus on, unsure of how to deal with the unfamiliar expression of emotion from the near-stranger in the guest room next door. He picked out one of his (many) black t-shirts and a pair of pants, and delivered them to Shawn with a solemn nod. The other boy had not moved from his spot on the bed since Alec had left him, skinny arms wrapped around himself in comfort with his green eyes fixed upon an unmoving spot on the ground. He looked up as Alec handed him the clothes, giving the older boy a despondent smile in gratitude that only served to highlight the ambivalent sadness in his eyes. It was in that moment which Alec Lightwood decided that he would spend the day fixing that sad broken smile, a promise he made himself as he shut the door to Shawn’s room behind him.


End file.
